


Don't mess around with Jim

by Multifandom_damnation



Series: Too rare to live, too young to die [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Billy Hargrove Needs a Hug, Billy Hargrove Tries to Be a Better Person, Broken Bones, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Home Invasion, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Neil Hargrove Being an Asshole, Neil Hargrove's A+ Parenting, Protective Parent Jim "Chief" Hopper, TV News
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22401541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: In this strange world that they lived in, there were few undisputable universal constants: You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger. And for the love of God and all that is holy, you don't mess around with Jim.This should be obvious, but apparently, Neil didn't seem to get the memo, and now he's going to have to pay for ever thinking that he could mess around with Jim and win.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Jim "Chief" Hopper
Series: Too rare to live, too young to die [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1488953
Comments: 21
Kudos: 160





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I fucking love this song, and I love all the scenes to Hopper singing/dancing to it in the show, so you had to expect me to use it at some point, right? This is honestly the best summary I've ever written, so I'm very proud of it. I'm happy with how this fic turned out, and I hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed writing it and coming up with it. And I doubt that this needs to be said, but I FUCKING HATE NEIL SO DAMN MUCH

On the rare occasion that Hopper found himself standing shirtless on his front porch smoking a cigarette as the sun rose, his thoughts often drifted to that of children.

Hopper had always had children in his life, no matter how briefly. Sara had been taken from him much too soon, so soon that she hadn’t even decided what kind of woman she was going to be, or how she wanted to live her life. Every day, Hopper missed the familiar weight of her in his arms.

But many years later, Sara’s weight was replaced- no, never replaced, overshadowed maybe- by a different weight in his arms, a firmer one, a superpowered one, and El came into his life with all the chaos and confusion of a hurricane, but Hopper was glad for the distraction.

He was a horrible father at first, and he’d be the first to admit that. When Sara was still alive he went through a phase of thinking that if he had kept her home more, kept an eye on her, kept her _safe_ , then she never would have gotten sick and they wouldn’t have lost her. He knew that was foolish, Sara would have gotten cancer no matter what, but he couldn’t help but resort to that way of thinking when El came into his life. He had told her that it was for her protection, so the scientists wouldn’t find her, but he had even managed to convince himself- that wasn’t really the reason for it at all.

After a while, after she had run away from _him,_ only for her to return and close the gate and save the day once again, it got better. Partially because she had great friends who gave her a reason to stay. Partially because he stopped comparing El to Sara and treated her like he always should have been. He let her spend some time outside. He let her hang out with Mike on weekends. He let her go to the mall and buy new clothes and _not_ pester Steve for free ice cream.

It had taken him longer than it should have to figure it out, but he finally did, eventually. Sara hadn’t lived long enough to form her own identity, and Hopper still mourned her and the person she never got to become. Why should he deny El the same thing?

And what a woman she was becoming, superpowers and all. Every trip to the mall, every day out of the cabin, and she returned as a completely different version of herself. And he loved her for that. But he was keenly aware that Max had a rather large helping hand in that.

Max was another piece on Hopper’s very full chessboard.

Hopper had gone from having Sara, then El, now Max and Billy at the same time. At first, he wasn’t sure if he could handle it, but somehow he was managing. His home had been so lonely and so quiet for so long that he could hardly call it home, but now, that was starting to change.

But Billy had been a different conundrum than his sister. Sure, Max was complicated and complex in her own way, but he’d had girls before, even if one died of cancer and the other one had superpowers. But Hopper had never had a _boy_ before, especially not one as dark and troubled as Billy, but Billy… honestly wasn’t what Hopper expected.

When Billy and Max first came to live with them, he had expected foul moods and arguments and late drunken nights from Billy and had immediately prepared for the worst, but he had nothing to worry about.

Billy had a job, which meant that he was more or less independent, and brought his own things with his own paycheck. If he noticed that the household was out of milk or cereal or Eggo’s, he would go out and buy groceries, no questions asked. When he was in a good mood, he’d come out and eat meals with them at the dinner table or sit on the couch with them and watch TV in companionable silence, maybe with a beer. On bad days, he stayed in his room and out of everyone’s way and stayed there until Max or occasionally El managed to coax him out of his room.

But days were usually the predecessor to bad nights, so Hopper was never too worried as long as Max was around.

Though Hopper never asked, Billy always told him where he was going or whether he was going to be home late. It wasn’t necessary, but Hopper still appreciated it. He didn’t need to worry as much when he knew that Billy had taken the girls for a drive to the 7-11 down the street, or that he’d been held back late at the pool, or that he’d needed some space and quiet and would try not to wake anyone when he came in.

But what Hopper had expected the least and what had really broken his heart was when Billy tried to offer payment for him and Max. Rent. Board. Hopper had never considered charging _any_ child that stayed under his roof, whether it be Sara or El or Max or Billy or even _Steve_ , and the fact that Billy’s first instinct was to pay his way just enraged Hopper. If Neil was charging his own children to live in their own home, then it would just be another reason for Hopper to hate him.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of creaking wood from behind him, and he didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was. Only two people in the household were heavy enough to make the broken floorboard squeak, and one of them was Hopper. “Morning,” Hopper greeted as Billy came out of the house to join him on the front porch and offered him his open pack of cigarettes as he took his own between his fingers and blew the smoke out of his lungs. “Care for a smoke?”

Silently, Billy took one and rolled it between his fingers before he fiddled with the lighter that Hopper had fished from his pocket and handed it to Billy. It was a nervous tick that Hopper had noticed since Billy had come to live with him and one he could only suspect occurred after the Mind Flayer took control of his body and his soul. “Where are the girls?” he asked as he brought the cigarette to his lips and lit it.

“Steve came late last night to bring them to his house,” Hopper explained, “They were all going to a sleepover with the other kids then he, Robin and Jonathon were going to take them to the beach.”

“Ah,” Billy said as he puffed out smoke. “Max mentioned something about that the other day.”

Humming, Hopper turned to look at Billy and immediately recoiled, blinking. “Fuck kid, you look like shit. What happened to you? You didn’t sleep too well or something?”

Billy made a face at the unfortunate nickname but otherwise didn’t object to it. “I _didn’t_ sleep,” Billy said and explained at Hopper’s confused expression, “Max warned me that she probably wouldn’t be here for the whole night, and we decided that it be better if I didn’t sleep until she came back, just in case it got bad while she was gone.”

“That’s a pretty shitty way of dealing with it,” Hopper frowned, “You shouldn’t be doing that.”

“It’s different when Max is here, you know that,” Billy said and Hopper knew that it was true. “But what are you doing out here? You look like you’re brooding.”

Hopper bit down on his cigarette. “Nah, not brooding. I was just thinking about my daughter, that’s all.”

Nodding, a faint smile pulled at Billy’s lips as he said, “Yeah, El’s a good kid. She’s great for Max and she’s one of the only kids in this town who isn’t afraid of me, which is a nice change. You did well.”

Confused, Hopper turned to Billy, blinking. “What? No, I’m not talking about El. I’m talking about Sara.” Realization dawned on him as the words left his mouth and he had to pick his jaw up off the floor to finish speaking. “Wait, you have no idea who Sara is, do you?”

Billy frowned. “Who’s Sara?”

There was a moment of shock where Hopper opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the whining of sirens and the roaring of a car engine. It sounded a little bit like Steve’s car, but that couldn’t be it…

Sure enough, after a little while, Steve’s car came squealing up the drive, a Hawkins police cruiser with its lights and sirens on following close behind. Through the windscreen of Steve’s car, Hopper could see the two girls in the backseat, looking harried, and Steve behind the wheel in the driver’s seat, looking both afraid and furious at the same time.

“Billy,” Hopper said as he dropped his cigarette to the floor and ground it out with his boot. “Go into my room and get one of my work shirts from the top drawer of my dresser. And my hat.”

Nodding, Billy silently ground out his own cigarette and disappeared inside as Hopper made his way down the steps of the porch and to the gravel driveway. Immediately, Steve lept out of the car and the girls followed suit, wearing nothing but their bathers and a blanket wrapped around each of them. “Hop, we didn’t even make it to the beach,” Steve’s voice was filled with anger. “It’s Billy’s dad. He’s in the cruiser and he recognised my car and we were told that if we didn’t come back here with them then they would arrest me and take the girls.”

Realistically, Hopper knew that they would never do that, considering that he was the Cheif of Police and one of the girls was his daughter, but the threat worked nonetheless. “You did well Steve, but how about you let me take care of it from here.”

Billy re-emerged from the house just as passengers were exiting the cruiser, and Hopper put on his shirt when Billy handed it to him but didn’t bother doing up the buttons. He placed the hat on his head very slowly and refused to break eye-contact with Neil as he and an officer marched up the drive, Neil more determined than the officer, who looked like he was still asleep.

“Gentleman, Neil,” Hopper greeted, not too friendly as he met them halfway. “To which do I owe the displeasure of you interrupting my moring smoke on my day off at the ass-crack of dawn?”

“Hey, Chief,” the officer greeted, sounding bored, tired and exasperated all at the same time. “Sorry about this, but he was hanging around the station and nobody could get rid of him, so Florence thought it was best to do what he asked before he started costing us money in damages.”

As Hopper took a closer look at him, the more he recognized the officer. “Holy shit, _Willson_? How are you doing man? Isn’t today your first day back from your annual leave?”

Willson looked less than impressed. “Yeah, it is. And instead of doing desk work like I was promised, I’m out here with this nutcase.”

The moment he had arrived and jumped out of the cruiser, Neil had been staring at Max and Billy with hungry eyes, but he finally pulled his gaze away to glare at Hopper and Willson. “Are you two finished? I’ve brought you out here to arrest him, not catch up over tea and scones.”

With an almighty sigh, Willson ran a heavy hand down his face and Hopper had the impression that they had already had this conversation many times before. “Sir, I’ve already told you, I can’t just come out here and arrest the Cheif of Police- my _superior_ mind you- on suspicions and false claims. I’m here to be a peaceful meditator to any discussions you wish to have with the accused.” he recited and it was clear to Hopper that he would much rather be anywhere but here.

“Suspicions and false claims?” Neil repeated, outraged, as he gestured at Max and Billy, standing a little further back. “My children are _right there_! What more proof could you possibly need?”

“As I’ve already told you, sir,” Willson said with his eyes closed. “That isn’t my call to make.”

Slowly, Hopper looked between the exhausted Willson and the seething Neil, trying to come up with a subtle solution. But then he felt El’s hand on his back, and he realized that if he didn’t do something soon, she would. He was surging forward before he even had the chance to think about it. “You know, Willson?” Hopper said, clapping his fellow officer on the shoulder. “You’ve done some good work here today. How about you go back to the station and congratulate yourself on a job well done. And on your first day back too! Don’t worry, I’ll handle all the paperwork for this one.”

Willson frowned. “Are you sure Chief? I wouldn’t want to slack off on my first day back.”

“Not at all,” Hopper reassured. “Go back to the station and relax, Willson. Take a load off. In fact, why don’t you go ahead and finish early today? That’s an order.”

While he looked convinced, Willson’s eyes glided over to a red-faced Neil. “What about him?”

“I’m going to take care of him,” Hopper said lowly, and after a fleeting glance at Neil and the rest of the kids, Willson got back into his cruiser and drove away.

Neil watched all of this with a slack expression on his face. “What the hell is wrong with you people? Is every pig in this town corrupt?”

“Not all of them. Just the ones you’ve managed to piss off,” Hopper said as he spun around, grabbed Neil by the front of his shirt and slammed him up against his police car. “What the hell is the matter with you, huh? What were you hoping to accomplish by bringing a cop to my _house_? For _what_? Because your adult children have finally figured out how much of a prick you are?”

Growling, Neil blinked stars out of his eyes from how hard Hopper had smashed his head against the car window. “You shouldn’t have taken my children from me, Hopper.” Neil snarled, brandishing his teeth like a rabid dog, his jaw jutting out. “Because I’m not going to stop until I make you _pay_.”

Scoffing, Hopper held onto Neil tighter when he tried to fretfully wiggle out of his grip. “Take your children from you? You fucking moron. Is that what you think I did? I didn’t take anything from you. They chose to come and stay with me. I didn’t make them do anything.”

Eyes bulging, Neil tried to break free from Hopper again. “Bullshit. I know those kids, and I know that they would never do anything so disrespectful and _stupid_. They were raised better than that.”

“With no help from you, obviously,” Hopper retorted. “Get the hell out of here, Neil, before I kick your ass nine ways to Sunday.”

“Yeah, get out of here,” Max spoke up from where she was partially behind Steve. “You heard him. We don’t want to go home with you and we never will so get that stupid idea out of your thick head.”

“Serves you right for hurting your kids and treating them like shit,” Steve said, and he regretted his words the moment they left his mouth. Everyone whipped their heads around to look at him, except for Hopper, who just shut his eyes and sighed heavily through his nose.

Oh so slowly, Neil turned to look at Billy, who stood frozen by the porch. “Hurt my kids?” he said lowly. El moved so she was standing in front of Billy. “Well that’s not true, is it son? You know I would never hurt you, right?”

The breath that Billy took was as deep as it was shaking, and he shuffled his feet in the gravel and twisted the dark coloured ring displayed proudly on his finger, and without thinking, he said instinctually, “No, sir,” and he winced at the proud look on Neil’s face.

“No, of course not,” Neil repeated, looking satisfied before he glanced back at Steve. “I have no idea where your friends would have gotten that idea unless you’ve been spreading those lies of yours again…”

Hopper wasn’t even sure how it happened, but he’d just had enough of Neil’s bullshit, and all of a sudden Neil was reeling back as his nose and mouth exploded in a spray of red as Hopper punched him so hard in the face that his knuckles ached. “Get the fuck out of my woods,” Hopper growled right in his face. “If I ever see you or your wife anywhere near my home, you’ll be sorry. You understand that?” Neil nodded once. Hopper slammed him up against the car one last time for good measure. “Good. Now get the fuck out of my sight.”

When Hopper let him go, Neil dusted himself off and rubbed at his jaw, looking at Hopper like he was going to lunge, but El stepped forward, and seemingly remembering the last time they crossed paths, Neil thought better of it. “Billy!” he barked and Billy immediately snapped to attention. “Give me your keys. Now!’ he added when Billy didn’t react fast enough.

As Billy fished through his pocket, Hopper held up his hand, and Billy paused, his fingers already around his car keys. “No. Absolutely not. There’s no way in hell that you’re getting anything from that boy ever again.”

A look of outrage crawled across Neil’s face as he comprehended Hopper’s words, highlighted by the broken nose and the blood running down his chin onto his freshly pressed white shirt. “Well, then I guess I’m not going anywhere unless you can figure out a way to take me, because I came with that useless officer, and I have no way to get back to Hawkins’ centre without a car.”

Grabbing Neil roughly again, Hopper manhandled him around until he was facing the end of the driveway and shoved him so hard in the back that he stumbled and caught himself with one hand on the hard gravel. “You can _walk_.”

Throwing a furious look over his shoulder, Neil wiped his hands on his pants before shoving his hands in his pockets and stormed down the driveway, muttering curses under his breath and sending glares back towards the group until he finally vanished past the treeline.

Satisfied, Hopper turned back to the kids, all standing on edge behind him. "Is everyone alright?"

"Fuck, I hate him," Max growled with her fists clenched at her sides. "I hate him so much."

Steve looked bashful and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Sorry about that. I uh… I spoke without thinking."

Their attention was drawn by the soft sound of the front door closing gently and they turned towards it to be met with a sudden absence of Billy standing near the porch. "Well," Hopper sighed. "Fuck."

Looking ashamed, Steve wrapped one arm around Max's shoulders and she leaned into the touch. "I guess it's stupid to ask if you still wanted me to take you to the beach, huh?"

Max was looking towards the front door with watery eyes. "I should probably stay here," she said. "Just in case."

"It's dangerous," El said, turning to Hopper. "Will he come back?"

Adjusting his hat, Hopper looked back out towards the driveway and shook his head. "No, I think he's learnt his lesson. I don't think we'll be seeing him anytime soon."

Nodding, El silently went inside and followed Billy, and Hopper watched her go. "I uh… I'd better go too." Max winced as she gave Steve a shy one-handed hug, careful not to drop the blanket wrapped around her bare torso. The morning chill was biting. "Thanks, Steve. We almost made it to the beach."

"Yeah, see you," Steve said as Max turned around and made her way inside the house. "What a shit-show, huh?"

"That could have gone better," Hopper agreed. "I didn't mean to hit him, but damn, it felt good."

Steve laughed as he kicked at the gravel. "He deserved it. You should have done more." He jerked his chin towards the house. "You'd better go deal with that. I don't think it's going to be pretty."

"Where are you going to go?" Hopper frowned.

"To the beach. There's still a bunch of kids that need wrangling, and I don't think Jonathon and Nancy can cope the way I can," Steve said as he made his way towards his car. "Good luck, Hop," he called over his shoulder as he clambered back into the driver's seat.

"See ya, Steve," Hopper waved as Steve slammed the door and put the car into reverse. Hopper watched Steve drive away and waited for his tail lights to disappear into the distance before he sighed and turned towards the front door. 

The girls were huddled together on the couch, wrapped up together in new blankets and wearing their pyjamas instead of bathers and they watched quietly as Hopper entered. They didn’t speak- they didn’t need to. Hopper took his hat off and placed it on the kitchen counter and the girls leant against each other, whether for comfort or support, Hopper wasn’t sure, but either way, he was glad for it. His fingers itched for a cigarette to bite between his teeth, but El had made him promise long ago not to smoke inside any more, so he resisted the urge as he drummed his fingers against the counter. The cabin was quiet. Quieter than it had been in a very long time. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

But he didn’t have to worry, because El broke the silence. “Outside,” she said, voice soft, and Hopper didn’t need to ask for any clarification. He nodded and licked at his lips. He wasn’t sure how to approach it, but he knew that he needed to before the situation got worse.

He knew that it would get worse before it got better.

It was just as cold in the backyard as it was in the front, and Hopper regretted for a moment leaving the cabin without putting more clothes on, but there Billy was, sitting on the back steps with his head hanging down and his hands clenched together, resting loosely over his knees. His hair was messy as if he’d been pulling at it, and angry red scratches marred the back of his neck and he pale skin on his forearms.

Billy didn’t acknowledge Hopper’s presence, even when the screen door swung back and slammed loudly against the frame, so Hopper didn’t speak and instead moved so he could inch his way down with a grunt and sit next to Billy on the steps. “Don’t listen to him,” he said eventually. “He’s just trying to get to you. Trying to call your bluff to convince you to go crawling back to him.”

There was no response from Billy. In fact, the kid refused to even look at Hopper and instead kept his stormy eyes on the ground just before him, where a weed was starting to push its way through the crack in the concrete in a desperate effort to reach the sun. “Look, kid, I know that was probably a pretty shocking thing, your old man coming here with a cop just to abuse you, but let me promise you, you’re safe here, and that’s never going to happen again.”

“That’s a lie,” Billy said, voice empty of all emotion. “Max is safe here. Though she’s never really safe when I’m around. If it’s not Neil, it’ll be something else, and four walls and a shotgun isn’t going to stop the Mind Flayer if it decides to come after me again. You made a mistake taking me in. The biggest mistake of your life.”

All Hopper could do was watch him. Billy was trying very hard not to show any emotion on his face, but Hopper had been a father before, and he saw the familiar flash of fear and pain and heartache dance across his hardened features. Hopper sighed and turned his gaze from the side of Billy’s face to watch the sun rise higher and higher into the brightening blue sky. “Sara was my daughter,” he said, and Billy jumped beside him. “Before I adopted El, I was the proud father of a beautiful little girl, who loved playing in the park and dancing and playing with her imaginary friends and painting and the colour blue. She was bright and kind and happy. Until she wasn’t.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Hopper could tell that Billy was interested, even if he was trying not to show it. “I loved her more than I thought I could ever love anyone, even my wife. But one day, she got sick. Really sick. And a little later, we found out that it was cancer. She died, my wife and I got a divorce, and I moved back to Hawkins. But Sara… she was the best thing in my life. She made me a dad, and even though she’s gone, she’s always here, you know? I loved her so much, and there was nothing I could do once her cancer took hold, but you know what my biggest mistake was? Not loving her enough while she was alive- or, well, not telling her I love her enough. How could you expect someone to leave your life like that? You never do.”

Billy was unabashedly watching him now, his whole body turned towards him and an unreadable expression on his face, but Hopper continued regardless. “I suppose that’s why I’m trying so hard with El, and with you and Max. Trying to make up for the way I failed Sara. but I know that none of you are her and that you could never be her no matter how much you tried. But I love you all the same. You’re all my kids, and you’re all different, and I would have it no other way. I don’t want five Sara’s. I want an El, and a Max, and a Billy, and a Steve, and whatever else this world decides to throw at me. And I’m fine with that.”

A strangled sound came from his right and Hopper turned to see Billy, stiff as a board and with an unreadable expression on his face. It was obvious that Hopper had said something to get to him, and he wasn’t quite sure what it was, but he hoped it wasn’t a bad thing. When it was clear that no other conversation was to be had, Hopper sighed and clapped Billy on the shoulder as he stood up. “You’re a good kid, Billy. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Especially not your dirtbag dad.”

Turning, Hopper made his way back inside the house, letting the fly screen door swing shut behind him, leaving Billy alone on the back step to think in privacy.

The next morning, Billy waited for Hopper’s car to leave the driveway on his way to work to make sure, once again, that nobody listened to any of Neil’s nonsensical rambling before he lept away from the window and made his way to the room the girls shared. He knocked on the door as softly as he could, and a very sleepy and very annoyed El answered it, her hair a mess, her face screwed up in irritation. “What is it?”

“Uh, hey kid,” Billy said awkwardly as he crouched down so he was eye-level with her. “Sorry for waking you, but um, I was wondering… if you had a minute… hm. Can you tell me about Sara? Hopper’s little girl that died?”

All trace of irritation left El’s face as she beamed up at him and quietly shut the door behind her so she didn’t wake the still sleeping Max. “I can do that.”

When Hopper returned home many hours later and much more exhausted than when he had first left the house that morning, he was shocked to find that his once bare walls and furniture were decorated- framed pictured of Sara lined the walls, her old drawing that Hopper had kept in a box under his bed was stuck on the fridge beside El’s, little frames sat on his TV stand and his kitchen table, her favourite little nicknacks were placed strategically around the house to make it look nice and not too cluttered, a huge version of the photo Hopper kept in his wallet of him and Sara in a loving embrace just before her cancer came was hanging on the wall above the TV. All the things that Hopper had hidden away for many years to try and forget the pain of his past, things he didn’t even know the location of before today, were all suddenly proudly displayed in his house like trophies. He couldn’t find it within himself to be upset about it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hopper watched Billy’s bedroom door closed as quietly as he could, and he didn’t even need to consider what had obviously happened. It didn’t take a genius. And Hopper was so happy about it that he almost started crying.

Right then, he was absolutely sure that taking in Billy and Max had been the best idea of his miserable life. Even if he had to deal with Neil-fucking-Hargrove every now and again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too proud with this one, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. The news report was a killer to write. And for those of you worried about the 'home invasion' tag, don't worry, it's not Hopper's house that gets invaded. 
> 
> (my fave part is the bit with Joyce)

Hopper wasn't sure what possessed him to visit the Hargrove's home late after work one night, but he had driven there almost in a trance, knowing full well that he was driving the opposite direction from his cabin and the young people probably asleep inside it. 

His cruiser was idling in the gutter across the road from the house, thrumming silently in the stillness of the night. Maybe it was louder than he thought though. He was so used to Billy’s Camaro that every car engine sounded dull in comparison. He watched as the lights in the windows turned off one by one as Susan walked through the house.

Really, Hopper knew that he shouldn’t be there. He should just turn away, drive down the street and forget that he’d ever come in the first place, but for some reason, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Not when he knew that Neil was in there somewhere, probably enjoying a nice cool beer while his wife cleaned up after him, Max and Billy the furthest thought from his mind, his facade of the worried father gone just like the innocence of his children. He didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve any of it.

When he had left the day before, Billy had gone out, and he returned, beaten and bruised and bloodied, his clothes full of blood, his knuckles scabbed, his shirt stinking of alcohol, and the only words he’d spoken was an apology for the mess as he trudged rain though the house. Nobody had wanted to barge into his room, not even Max, so he stayed locked away long after Hopper had already left for work this morning. He hadn’t even answered when Max and El took turns knocking on the bedroom door and pleading for him to come out. Joyce had visited Hopper at work on her way to drop Will off at school and told him that she saw Billy pick a fight with some of the bullies at the high school. He had won, but they’d beaten him up pretty badly. Hopper had assured her that he would take care of it.

Maybe that was why he was here, parked outside the house like a creep, staring at all the windows for any sign of life, checking multiple times to make sure his gun wasn’t in its holster on his hip. Maybe this was his way of ‘taking care of it’, the way he took care of every other important thing in his life. He never had been very good at using his words. His fists always managed to work better.

The very thought of Neil Hargrove made Hopper sick to his stomach. Hopper had never really liked him, but ever since he’d learned about how he treated his children, how he treated _Billy_ , he’d somehow lost even more respect for him. And respect wasn’t something Hopper had much of to spare.

If Billy had known that Hopper was here, idling out front of his parent’s house, he would never forgive him. He’d be offended that Hopper thought he was weak enough to have his battles fought for him. Would storm off, frustrated, and scream that he didn’t need anyone to take care of him, that he was old enough to take care of himself, that he’d been doing it for most of his life anyway and he didn’t need someone like Hopper to interfere. Max, on the other hand, would be ecstatic. Hopper knew that if she could, she’d be the one here parked outside her house wondering what her next move was going to be.

She would probably be better at making that kind of decision than Hopper was. Part of him wanted to go home and sink into his recliner with a drink and watch re-runs of Cheers until he fell asleep. The other part of him wanted to stay where he was and see how the night played out.

Hopper sat there for a couple more moments, contemplating his best course of action. Right when he was about to turn away from the house and drive home, he thought about Neil’s ugly face, and the anger boiled up within him again, and he decided that anger wouldn’t be the best thing to bring home to three sleeping kids.

Turning off the engine, Hopper slipped the key into the glove box before slipping from the car. He wasn’t worried about anyone seeing him- it was long after midnight, and if someone saw the cruiser parked there, they would just assume that it was their loyal police chief doing a cursory round of their neighbourhood.

The neighbours back gate was unlocked, and Hopper was glad that he didn’t have to hop any fences as he made his way through the gap between the houses until he got to the back yard. It wasn’t fenced off, and for a panicked moment, Hopper had no idea what he was doing or what his story would be if he got caught, but that all went away when he peered into the Hargrove’s back yard.

Neil was sitting there, lounging on a camping chair, a cigar clamped between his teeth and a beer bottle danging loosely in his fingers. Hopper recognized the cigar- well, he recognized the long- faded burn marks on the skin of Billy’s forearms in the perfectly rounded memory of a cigar.

He wasn’t spotted yet. Neil was too busy being a stuck-up prick to notice Hopper making way too much noise in the bushes beside his house, getting burs in his socks and prickles in the tan fabric of his work pants. Hopper knew very well that he still had the chance to leave, but then he thought about poor Billy, asleep in a bed that wasn’t his own and in a house that belonged to a practical stranger, and decided that it was now or never. Besides- when was he ever going to get another opportunity like this?

Hands in his pockets, hat low over his eyes, head down, Hopper slowly emerged from the bushes. Neil made a stranged sound of surprise and choked on the cigar smoke still circulating in his lungs. “Evening, Neil,” Hopper said, and he was very pleased with the look on Neil’s face.

Gasping for air, the beer bottle slipped from Neil’s fingers and the liquid sloshed out onto the grass. “The fuck do you think you’re doing here? This is my god damn house- you can’t just come here and-”

“It doesn’t feel too good, does it?” Hopper said as he made his way across the lawn. “To have a stranger show up at your home and act like they own the place? To start throwing accusations? To have to deal with it yourself, face to face, instead of involving someone else?”

Growling, Neil stood, and dropped his half-burnt cigar to the ground and stepped on it. “What do you think you’re going to accomplish by coming here, _pig_? Do you think I’m going to give you an apology? It’s never gonna happen.”

Pursing his lips, Hopper took his hat off his head and dropped it to the ground. He jerked his chin at the still smoking butt of the cigar. “I know that brand. Not personally, but I’ve realized while your children have been living with us that Billy is very well acquainted with it. If the scars on his arms are any indication. You lose your temper a lot, Neil?”

A cruel smirk inched its way across Neil’s ugly face. “Not my fault that the kid relishes pain. He must have… seen me smoking, lit a cigar while I wasn’t looking and touched it to his skin just for the thrill of it. He’s never been a particularly bright kid. I can’t help it if he isn’t smart enough to realize fire will burn.”

“Right,” Hopper hummed. “I suppose you’d say the same about the bruises he used to get whenever he left your house, or scars on his arms or the scabs on his knuckles were just… collateral damage?”

“Exactly,” Neil said smugly. “I’m glad to see that you can finally wrap your fat head around something simple.”

Nodding, Hopper removed his coat and dropped it beside his hat on the unkempt grass. “You see, Neil, in case you hadn’t noticed, this isn’t a friendly social call,” he said. “You told Billy when you rudely barged into my house the other day that he’d been telling lies. Well, I’m here to figure out exactly what lie’s you claim that he’s telling.”

“All kids lie,” Neil said. “Billy just more than most. He’s never been an honest kid. That’s why his mother left him, you know. She never could deal with him acting up all the time. He had… well, let’s just say he had some anger issues as a child that never really went away. He used to hurt her, call her names, and I used to punish him for it. All kids need discipline no matter how old they are. When Billy’s mother abandoned him, he took it out on other kids, and he needed to learn that behaviour like that would never be OK. I thought I’d fixed him. I guess kids never _can_ unlearn bad habits.”

Hopper knew for a fact that Neil’s story was a load of bullshit. El had told him after the battle at Starcourt, whispered words in the dark of his bedroom, what she had seen in Billy’s memories when she had reached out to him, and Hopper believed his super-powered daughter more than he believed the abusive Neil Hargrove. “Well,” Hopper ground out, trying very hard to remain civil. “Whatever your story may be, no offence, but I believe Billy and Max over you. And let me tell you another thing- I would never beat my children. I would never make them fear me. I would never make them feel guilty for living under my roof. I would never make them feel like their mother leaving was their fault, and I would never, _never_ , make them call me _sir_.”

Neil lunged at him first, and Hopper was more than happy to let him do it. Neil may have been a security guard or whatever, but Hopper was much bigger and much stronger than he was, and when Neil tried to wrap his arms around him to pull him to the ground, Hopper pushed him off and flung him away like he weighed nothing. He’d been fighting things a lot worse than humans for a very long time. Neil collided with the lawn chair and it crumpled helplessly under his weight. One of the support poles broke through the fabric, and Neil swung it at Hopper, but Hopper grabbed it mid-air and yanked it out of Neils’ hand. 

Now looming over him, Hopper kicked Neil hard in the ribs so the other man hunched over, wheezing, and Hopper threw him up against the brick wall of the house, his head hitting the brick so hard that it bounced back. “A father is supposed to love their children unconditionally, even if they don’t turn out the way you expected,” Hopper growled in his face as he twisted Neil’s collar in his fist. “You’re supposed to protect them, look after them, make them feel safe and tell them everything is going to be OK. Not beat them until they bleed just because you don’t like their attitude. That’s not what a father is. That’s not what a man is.” He grabbed Neil’s face and slammed his head against the wall again, and the resulting crack was satisfying. “You’ve failed Billy, you failed Max. You failed as a father. And I am glad that those kids had the common sense to get as far away from you as they could. You’re scum. You’re not worth the time.”

It was almost funny, the way Neil tried to fight back. Sometimes, Hopper could look at him, watch him closely, and find similarities that he had with Billy, things that Billy had picked up from his father over time, but watching him now, slapping at Hopper’s wrist and flailing his arms like a dying fish out of water, one thing was blindingly obvious- Billy was a much more accomplished fighter, no matter what his father claimed to be.

As Hopper held him off easily, Neil dragged his eyes up to meet Hopper’s steely gaze, and Hopper didn’t know he could get any angrier. ‘What can I say?” he coughed as Hopper pushed at his throat. “He didn’t deserve my love. He didn’t deserve his mothers. You know what he does deserve?” he leaned closer to Hopper, so close that he could smell his smoke-acrid breath. “A lifetime of pain.”

A wave of anger hot as fire poured through Hopper’s blood, and suddenly he was punching Neil with everything he had, again and again, and again, hit after hit, until Hopper’s knuckles ached and Neil’s face was unrecognizable beneath all the blood. It had been a long while since he’d been able to do this- let loose, not worry about prying eyes, not worry about repercussions. Because there would be no repercussions- nobody would believe that the local police chief would attack a man in the dead of night, no matter how horrible the victim.

It was only when Neil was starting to make desperate wheezing sounds beneath him that Hopper finally pulled away, panting, sweating, and looked down at his fists. They were steady, and for that he was glad. “You stay the fuck away from Billy and Max,” he said as reached down to scoop up his hat and jacket. “And if I ever see you anywhere near my home or my children again, you’ll be sorry.”

Then Hopper left him there, bloodied and bleeding against the brick wall of his house, and made his way back towards his cruiser. He didn’t worry about the blood on the steering wheel, he knew how to clean it so it didn’t leave anything behind, and he didn’t worry about getting caught, because the car wasn’t parked there long enough to be suspicious, so Hopper turned the ignition and drove away down the road.

There was one more stop that Hopper had to make before he could go home, and as Joyce’s house came into view in his headlights, Hopper could only pray that her boys would be asleep. They didn’t need to see the police chief, El’s dad, covered in another man's blood. He kicked at the door with his boot, worried about getting blood on the newly painted door, and waited for someone to answer.

Thankfully, it was Joyce who answered the door, looking frazzled and sleep-ruffled, still in her pyjamas and her old slippers, her hair an absolute mess. “Can I help- _Hopper_? Oh my god, what the hell happened to you?”

“You should see the other guy,” he said. “Can I come in? I need to clean up. I can’t go home looking like this.”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” Joyce said as she shuffled out of the way and opened the door wider so Hopper could walk through. “Bathroom’s down the hall. Don’t bother to take off your shoes.”

He wasn’t going to take them off anyway, but he hung his hat and coat up on the rack by the door and trudged as quietly as he could down the hall, careful not to wake Will and Jonathan sleeping nearby until he reached the bathroom.

There was plenty of soap, which was good, and Hopper lathered himself up with more soap than was strictly necessary before he turned on the tap as high and as hot as it could go and began to scrub the blood off his hands. The blood had mostly dried on the way over, so it took a little more effort than he expected, but it worked.

Joyce came to join him a little bit later, her hair combed and tied back, a dressing gown over her shoulders, and set a couple of rolls of bandages on the counter. “What in the high hell happened to you?”

“It’s not my blood,” Hopper said absently as he focused particularly hard the stubborn blood sticking under his nails. “I’m not hurt at all, actually.”

“That’s not the point,” Joyce sighed. They’d had this conversation many times before. “Where did you go? What the hell did you do? Who’s blood even is this anyway?”

“Neil Hargrove’s,” Hopper said innocently and Joyce made a strangled sound. “Let’s just say that I went to pay him a visit. Warn him that if he ever came to my home like that again that I would do more than kick his teeth in.”

“Oh, Hop,” Joyce sighed again, but it was a different kind of sigh. Less exaggerated, more empathetic. Understanding. “We all hate that guy, but you can’t just go to people’s houses and beat them up because you don’t like them. That’s not how it works.”

Frowning, Hopper turned off the tap, and the sudden silence was somewhat startling. Most of the blood was gone except for those hard-to-reach places under his nails and caked into the creases of his skin, but mostly, his hands were clean, and he reached for the hand towel and began to roughly rub it off. “It’s got nothing to do with how I feel about him. It’s got to do with the fact that he came to my house and made Billy so upset that he went out looking for a fight just so he could feel something other than sadness and anger. Why should I just let that go? Why shouldn’t I repay the favour?

Shaking her head, Joyce took the towel from him and began to gently wipe his hands, much slower than how he was doing it. “You shouldn’t. But there are other ways to go about it. You can’t just… show up at his house and beat him up. We all know that he deserves it, but that’s just not how it works. Just because you’re the Chief of Police doesn’t mean that you’re above the law.”

"I'm not saying that I'm above the law," Hopper winced as Joyce ran the towel over his ruined knuckles. Through all the blood, Hopper hadn't noticed how bruised and cut they were, but that was not to be helped. "It's about everyone else being too scared to stop him from hurting people. But I'm not scared of him. He's the one who thinks that he's above the law. It's time someone taught him a valuable lesson."

Joyce was quiet for a few moments as she took care of Hopper’s hands before she reached for the bandages and silently began to wind them around his fists. “You know that he’s going to go to the news,” she said. “And you know that he’s not going to hold back on his statements. They might not believe him, but it could go bad this time, Hop.”

“I know,” he said. “You’ll back me up though, right?”

“Always have and always will,” Joyce replied as she tied off the last bandage and stepped back, looking over her handiwork. The towel in her hand was stained with red, and she tossed it over her shoulder in preparation to be chucked into the wash. “You’ve gotta be careful, Hop. You gotta be.”

“I know,” he repeated. “But I’ve been living with those kids, Joyce, living with Billy… I’ve seen what Neil’s done to them first hand. I’ve _seen_ it. I couldn’t just let him get away with it. I couldn’t.”

Nodding, Joyce escorted Hopper to the front door. “You’re doing a great job, Hop, even if your tactics are a bit worrying. But… these kids need you. Not just El, but Max and Billy. The last thing they need is for something bad to happen to you and then Neil goes after them to get revenge.”

“Revenge?” Hopper said as he walked back outside into the cool night air. “Neil wouldn’t dare. Thanks for this, Joyce, you’re a lifesaver. I couldn’t go home like this.”

“Anytime. You know that.” Joyce replied, and she stayed at the threshold, holding onto the door as Hopper got back into his cruiser, and she watched until his taillights disappeared from view.

Everyone was sound asleep when Hopper finally arrived home in the early hours of the morning, and he slipped into bed before anyone could catch him awake.

Later that night, everyone was gathered around the small TV in the lounge room recently decorated with Sara memorabilia when a Breaking News alert came on and a blonde woman in a red blouse with a microphone took up most of the screen, standing in front of a familiar house. “Breaking news- we are here today at the home of a man who last night reported being attacked in his own backyard while his wife was asleep inside. This man, known throughout Hawkin’s by his… let's say his _particular_ choice of discipline, claims that our very own Chief of Police, officer Jim Hopper, was integral to the attack. Neil, could you explain this? You really think that ole Hopper did this? Are you sure?”

“Why is everyone in this damn town so fucking stupid?” Neil scowed. His face looked even worse during the day as it did last night. “Of course it was Hopper. It’s payback, you see, for confronting him about kidnapping my children. There’s a conspiracy going on in this town. All the cops are dirty. Nobody will help me.”

“Your children… your… adult… children?”

“You can’t consider them adults if they don’t know how to look after themselves,” Neil snapped. “I wouldn’t expect Max to be able to wipe her own nose let alone take care of herself.”

“Doesn’t your older son- Billy, is it?- have a job at the local pool? I hear that he’s doing very well there. The best senior lifeguard the pool has ever employed, in fact. Couldn’t he look after her?”

“What’s the pool got to do with anything? That boy… it’s why his mother left, you know. He’s always been a lost cause. And he wouldn’t spit on Max if she was on fire- they hate each other.”

“Sir… I don’t think you’ve had a look at your children recently because anyone in Hawkin’s with eyes knows that those two kids… they look out for each other like nobody's business.”

The face Neil made was toxic. “Of course I haven’t seen them, because that fat ugly pig you idiots call a Police Chief stole them from my home and won't give me access to them!”

The reporter- who Hopper vaguely recognized as the new girl Claudia who had replaced Nora after her hip surgery- took a step away from Neil and gave him a dirty look. “You’re making some pretty big accusations here, Neil. Would you be able to address the accusations made against you by many members of the public? Child endangerment? Child abuse? Domestic violence? Threat of injury and harm? Imposing emotional and psychological abuse on your children? We’ve all seen it, Mr Hargrove, don’t try and deny it.”

Neil looked taken aback. “I… I uh…”

Satisfied, Claudia looked back towards the camera, and the lens zoomed in to block out Neil and his flabbergasted face. “We spoke with other members of the public, those around the area at the time and those with a close relation to the chief of police to get a better understanding of these serious accusations.”

The scene cut to one of Neil’s neighbours, looking offended at being woken up at the ungodly hour of the morning. “Do I think that Hopper…? No? What the hell are you talking about? That man's nothing but a teddy bear, I tell you. He once got my daughters cat out of a tree. That man is as harmless as a cop could come. But whoever did it, I thank them. Neil Hargrove has been nothing but trouble. The stories I could tell you, the things I’ve seen… anyway. No, Hopper didn’t do this.”

Again, the camera switched to a familiar house, and a microphone was being shoved under Joyce Buyer’s nose. Unlike the last interviewee, she looked prepared and dressed, and Hopper had a feeling that she hadn’t gone back to bed when he left last night. “Jim? Jim Hopper?” she did a very good job of sounding shocked. “Attack Neil? No, of course not. Why would he? Hopper cares about everyone in this town, and that includes diabolical people like Neil. I’ve known Jim for many, many years, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that he would never do this. He may let his anger get the better of him sometimes, sure, but he has kids he needs to worry about. He would never put them in danger or jeopardy just because he holds a grudge.”

The camera snapped back to Claudia as he walked down an empty Hawkins street. “There you go, folks. Another man trying to blame a hate crime on our kind police chief. Frankly, I think this was a setup- we’ve all seen how that man operates. What do you think? Could Jim Hopper really have orchestrated this attack, or is this just the ramblings of a lonely man starved for attention? Call us on-”

Hopper turned off the TV when Claudia started rattling off the number for the news station. “I like her,” he said into the answering silence. “More than Nora, anyway.”

When nobody spoke, Hopper turned to his left, where Billy sat frozen, back straight and face stoic, hands clenched so hard Hopper was worried that his nails would dig in and make him bleed. After a moment, Hopper realized that everyone else was looking at Billy too, waiting with bated breath for a reaction like people at a zoo would watch a prowling lion to see what it would strike.

Eventually, it was Max who spoke, reaching over and resting a hand gently on Billy’s knee. “Billy? Hey, are you alright?”

While Billy didn’t shake her off, he didn’t really invite the touch either, but Max didn’t move her hand. “Did you do that, Hopper?” Billy asked, voice so hushed that Hopper could barely hear it from where he was sitting beside him on the couch.

And the worst part was that Hopper actually had the audacity to pretend to be confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Did you go to our house, break into the back yard, and beat Neil to a bloody pulp before coming home last night?” Billy’s voice was dangerously quiet, and Hopper wasn’t sure why. Surely, he’d be glad that this happened to his horrible father, right? Maybe not.

But Hopper, as he’s said many times before, has never had a son before, so he had no idea how he could react. “No, Billy,” he lied, but it was a very convincing lie. “I didn’t do that. I wouldn’t have had the time.”

Maybe, ‘I wouldn’t have had the time’ wasn’t the best reason to give, but before Hopper could amend his statement or Billy could say something, it was El who crawled over on her knees and rested her chin on Billy’s legs to drag his attention to her. “Let’s go for… a drive?”

“Yeah,” Max agreed immediately. “We can get slushies from 7-11, or prank some bullies from school. Please?”

After a moment, Billy nodded, and both girls hefted him up to his feet, and after sending another unreadable look over his shoulder to Hopper, he left the cabin without a fight.

Though he probably could have gone about it differently, and the outcome but have been a little better, Hopper was unapologetically proud of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys... I'm torn. Part of me wants to give Billy abilities since being possessed by the Mind Flayer and all that, but the other part of me is worried that it'll be a little too cliche and that it would ruin the sort of normality of the series, so I'm not sure at all what I should do ughhh but anyway, enjoy this haha
> 
> And by powers, I don't mean El kind of powers, I mean just really strong or something, you know??

**Author's Note:**

> I've made this two chapters FOR A REASON THAT WILL BECOME OBVIOUS LATER but I've been doing this series for ages now and I have no idea why I haven't done any chaptered fics. It's weird. Also, happy Australia Day x


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